mn70s:
Jack Baker and Michael McConnell Apply for Marriage License in Minneapolis, 1970 (by R. Bertrand Heine)
On the afternoon of May 18, 1970, University of Minnesota law student Jack Baker and U of M employee Michael McConnell walked into a drab government office in Minneapolis, filled out a form, paid a $10 filing fee, and applied for a marriage license. It was apparently the first time in U.S. history that anyone had ever taken the initial steps to pursue a legally-recognized gay marriage. Baker and McConnell’s marriage application was eventually denied (Hennepin County Attorney George M. Scott advised that, in any marriage, “there should be a male and a female involved”), but the two men did not give up. They filed a lawsuit challenging the denial of their marriage license application. In the end, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled against them, saying that marriage was “a union of man and woman, uniquely involving the procreation and rearing of children within a family.” Baker and McConnell appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the justices declined to take up the case, essentially setting aside the question of the constitutionality of gay marriage for another time. That was four decades ago.
Image via Minnesota Historical Society
